Just as the Wizards announced they'd sent rookie Glen Rice to the Iowa Energy of the D-League, it's also a possibility that Otto Porter could follow him there. The No. 3 overall pick, Porter has appeared in just 18 games going into Monday's vs. the Philadelphia 76ers at Verizon Center and averaging less than two points and two rebounds.

"If it makes sense ... anything to help our players," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said about Porter potentially being assigned. "We'll take a look at it."

The Wizards (19-20) haven't had room for Porter in the rotation with Trevor Ariza and Martell Webster playing well ahead of him. Plus, he has been playing from behind all season. First, it was the right thigh strain that knocked him out of the Las Vegas summer league. Then it was a right hip flexor strain that kept him out of training camp and the entire preseason.

Porter's first game was a home game Dec. 6 vs. the Milwaukee Bucks. His first play with the ball was a turnover and his first shot was an airball. Porter didn't make his first field goal at Verizon Center until the final game of 2013 vs. the Detroit Pistons.

Rice was just cleared to return from right wrist surgery that he had last month for a hairline fracture.

"Otto was able to do some more stuff. We had more practice time when he was able to be with us," Wittman said of why Porter didn't get sent to D-League like Rice after an injury. "He was a rookie that didn't know anything. It's a different point in the season now where all these guys have a grasp of what we're trying to do, our philosophies, our concepts offensively. That was earlier on where Otto needed to learn what we were doing."

Sending high lottery picks to the D-League is rare. In 2010, Hasheem Thabeet, who was taken No. 2 overall by the Memphis Grizzlies the previous year, was sent to North Dakota.

Shabazz Muhammad, the No. 14 overall pick for the Minnesota Timberwolves who was from Porter's draft class, spent four games with the Energy and recently was recalled.